European Union ‘will not order Russia jab’
GERMANY’S health minister says the European Union will not order Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine and his country will hold bilateral talks with Russia on whether an order makes sense.
Jens Spahn told WDR public radio that the EU’s executive commission said it will not place orders for Sputnik V on member countries’ behalf, as it did with other manufacturers.
Mr Spahn said yesterday he told his fellow EU health ministers that Germany “will talk bilaterally to Russia, first of all about when what quantities could come”.
He said “to really make a difference in our current situation, the deliveries would have to come in the next two to four or five months already”.
Otherwise, he said, Germany would have “more than enough vaccine” already.
Mr Spahn reiterated that, as far as Germany is concerned, Sputnik V must be cleared for use by the European
Medicines Agency (EMA), and “for that, Russia must deliver data”. On Wednesday, Bavaria’s governor said his administration was signing a preliminary contract to get 2.5 million doses of Sputnik V, probably in July, if the jab is cleared by the EMA.
Meanwhile, Tokyo has asked Japan’s central government for permission to implement emergency measures to curb a surge in a rapidly spreading and more contagious coronavirus variant, just over three months before the start of the Olympics.
The city came out of a state of emergency on March 21.
Its governor Yuriko Koike told reporters she has asked the government to allow her to issue binding orders under a virus prevention law enacted in February that includes penalties for business owners who defy measures and compensation for those who comply.
Tokyo’s step follows Osaka in western Japan, which declared a medical emergency after its hospitals became overwhelmed with new cases. Tokyo reported 545 cases yesterday, the highest since early February.
Ms Koike said she is alarmed by the rapid spread of the new variants, especially one initially detected in Britain.
“It would be a matter of time before Tokyo faces a situation similar to Osaka,” Ms Koike said.
She said timing and details of the new measures, including shorter hours for restaurants and bars, will be decided later, possibly today.
The latest surge started in western Japan, including Osaka, where the daily toll hit a record 878 and governor Hirofumi Yoshimura asked that the Olympic torch relay scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday be held at a park and not on the public road.
He said more than 70% of hospital beds have been occupied, a threshold for a local medical alert.
Infections have also surged elsewhere in the country.
With Japan’s vaccination drive still at an early stage, the surge may cause further cancellations of Olympic-related events.
Inoculations started in mid-February with medical workers, but still account for less than 1% of the population. Vaccinations of elderly people are to start next week and the rest are likely to have to wait until around July.